


A birthday sweet like pudding

by PinkLotus (EspurrsVena)



Series: Birthday Series [3]
Category: JO1 (Japan Band), Produce 101 (Japan TV)
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Birthday Presents, Fluff, M/M, Pudding deserves a happy birthday in this time too, Surprise Gifts, no beta we die like real men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:14:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23612851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EspurrsVena/pseuds/PinkLotus
Summary: Shosei knows it's for the safety of all of them, but having to spend his birthday alone sucks.Luckily, his groupmembers would never let their beloved Pudding stay sad.
Relationships: Ohira Shosei/Shiroiwa Ruki
Series: Birthday Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698286
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	A birthday sweet like pudding

If there had been one constancy in Shosei’s life it would be that for everything good thing, something bad followed.   
In the current case, it was that hi debut had been a success, but at the same time a new virus started to spread which made promoting nearly impossible. Everything got worse eventually and everyone was ordered to stay at home.   
All those safety measures had influenced Syoya’s birthday last week already but since the situation didn’t get better in the meantime, Shosei prepared himself for a lonely birthday. 

Sure, he was able to contact or call everyone with the help of messaging apps, but sitting alone in his room was defending. In the years prior, he always celebrated with his friends and did fun things. Especially this year he had hoped that his birthday would be a good one which he could celebrate with his group members. Instead all signs made him expect his worst birthday ever.  
He didn’t even bother to stay up until midnight to receive the first messages and went to sleep early. 

What he didn’t know was that his groupmates had already prepared something to make his birthday less depressing besides the social distancing rules. Everyone had agreed that no matter the circumstances, each one of them deserved to have a happy birthday. So, they decided to prepare small surprises for the birthday boy which didn’t break the strict rules their management had given to them. 

First one to surprise Shosei was Sho. He was usually the first one awake anyway, so together with his own breakfast he prepared one for the birthday boy. He also wanted make sure that the blonde one wouldn’t eat nothing but sweets on that day. He knew the other members too well and actually he had to stop them from serving nothing but pudding on that day.   
Together with a handwritten letter, he put the breakfast tray in front of the door of the younger one before texting him to take a look outside. 

When Shosei woke up, his mood was still sour. He was predicting the day to become a depressing one, so not even the greetings that had reached him so far managed to cheer him up much. Although the message from their manager that JAMs made his birthday hashtag trend and the messages from his family made him smile a little, yet in his eyes that day was doomed. Sitting alone in your room was not how you should celebrate your birthday... 

That’s why it was a pleasant surprise when he got a message from Sho that he should check what’s in front of his room. Even though it was unlikely for their leader to break the rules, he hoped that everyone was waiting outside for him. Yet when he reached the door, it was quiet, too quiet for a surprise by everyone. There was no way that Keigo, Junki or Shion could be that quiet.   
His suspicion was confirmed when he only found a breakfast with a card in front of his door. The leader was also nowhere to be seen. 

A little heartbroken he took the tablet inside. Luckily, he hadn’t prepared breakfast on his own yet, so he was glad about the thoughtful gift. As always Sho had made sure that the meal was healthy and Shosei was impressed how he could make such a meal early in the morning. While not being as weak as Sukai in morning, Shosei usually made much simpler breakfasts for himself.   
While he enjoyed it very much, he still felt lonely while eating it. It would have been more fun to share it with everyone, he thought. 

He barely finished reading the card Sho had written for him when he heard someone knocking on his door. However, when he opened the door again no one was there, only a gift was lying in front of it. He took it inside while reading the attached card – the gift was from Issei.   
When he opened it, he found a new cosmetic bag in a Pompom Purin design which made him chuckle. He did not expect something that cute from their youngest.   
He could also feel that his mood lifted gradually. While it was true that he was alone in his room, he wasn’t truly lonely. 

Also, he started to wonder who would be the next one to surprise him. So far, the surprises were unexpected, but he suspected a pattern behind it. There had been exactly one hour between Sho’s and Mame’s surprise, so he expected that once the clock struck zero again, the next member would surprise him.   
It happened as he suspected. After another hour had passed, there was a knock on his door and he heard someone running away from his room.   
Outside of his room was a nicely wrapped gift waiting for him, but no card was attached on the outside so at first, he had no idea whose gift it was. The card was inside the gift along with some DVDs - it was from Takumi.   
While pretty much all of them had streaming service accounts by now, both he and Takumi preferred to own DVDs of their favourite movies. Those new DVDs were a nice addition to his collection. 

The next hour was spend by him talking with his mother and sister via video chat. Even if everything had went as planned, he wouldn’t have been able to see them on that day due schedules, but at least that unplanned free time gave him more time to talk them. In the middle of talking to them, he heard another knock on his door.   
Just like the previous time the giver was nowhere to be seen, only the gift was waiting for him. A quick check of the card told him it was from Keigo which made him kind of excited. The tall one always managed to prepare well thought and expensive gifts.   
In his case it turned out to be a new camera – a polaroid one.   
During previous shootings, they used those a few times and taking pictures was extra challenging cause you had only try to make a good one. Being into taking pictures and videos recently, it was the perfect challenge for him to take. 

Happily, he showed his gifts to his family who he was still video calling and they talked for another hour until it was lunch time.   
Shosei had no idea whether he should prepare himself something or hope that Junki would surprise him with carbonara or Ren with one of his dishes. Eventually, it knocked on his door again and indeed a huge plate of freshly made carbonara was waiting for him along with some goods from his hometown Kyoto. 

After lunch he couldn’t wait for the rest of the hour to pass and whose gift would be next. When the clock struck zero again, he was already waiting at the door to catch at least one of his groupmates. However, no knock came. Instead he heard a giggle from the other side of the door which clearly belonged to Ren.   
“Shosei, I know you are waiting at the door. But you won’t get it until you are away from the door.”   
“How did you know?” Sometimes it was scary how well the silver haired one could hear things.   
“That’s my secret.”   
“Ah come on, Ren... Just let me hug you.” He opened the door anyway and threw his arms around the older one. He knew he shouldn't do that, yet he wanted thank at least one of his friends now.   
Luckily, Ren didn't seem to mind that because he felt the other one’s arms around him, too.   
“Happy Birthday, Shosei. Sorry for not making something bigger, but your birthday next year is gonna be twice as big, I promise.”   
“Thank you anyway. It's already a good one.”   
“You haven’t seen my gift yet.” With a bright smile Ren gave him a book which was, of course, in a Pompom Purin design. “I thought you would appreciate a good old photobook.” 

Shosei took only a quick glance through it but it was more than enough time for Ren to run away. It sucked that they had to do that but being able to thank one friend in person made him feel a little better, so without complaining he returned into his room.   
The photobook started with his and Ren’s shared journey through the audition, but later parts also contained moments with other trainees and even messages from them. A wave of nostalgia hit him, but he didn’t object those thoughts. Birthdays were the days of nostalgia, weren’t they? 

Being deep down the memory lane Shosei actually surprised when he heard the next knock. That time he wasn’t fast enough to catch the giver, so he only found an envelope outside.   
He had no idea what to expect from that, so he checked the content of it while closing the door. It was a ticket for USJ which could be used all year long and a card from Sukai.   
It had been ages since the blonde one had been to the park and Sukai also seemed to be quite fond of the park. Hopefully once the lockdown was over, they could go together, he hoped.   
When he went with Syoya and Shion to a theme park, it was only a S3 trip cause Sukai had a scheduled that day. As much fun as the trip was, it felt incomplete. Besides all the joking about disbanding S4, he was glad to have the fellow 00liners. On the first glance they seemed different, but in reality they could relate to each other a lot.   
Speaking of S4, he wondered what the other two members had up in their sleeves. Sukai was the trustable one among them, so Shosei was curious who would be next. 

At least, there would be no cake smash for him. As much calories that could be saved by that, he preferred not having his face full of cake.   
In time there was a knock again, yet when Shosei opened the door no one was to be seen. Only a tray with a big Pompom Purin made of pudding was waiting for him. When he bent down to pick it up, he suddenly heard steps and felt his face pushed into the pudding while hearing the laughers of both Syoya and Shion. However, having your face inside a pudding made him unable to do anything, so by the time they let go of him and he was able to look up again, he only saw them running away while giving each other a high five. 

Back in his room he washed the pudding from his face and changed his clothes which were also strained with pudding. At least, the card by Syoya he found safetly stored under the plate, wasn't covered in pudding.  
“A pudding for our favourite pudding” The line made him chuckle and the pudding was delicious, yet Shosei mentally plotted some revenge for the future already. There was no way he would let them go easily.   
There was also another small gift on the messy tray – Pompom Purin hairclips.   
All those gifts made him wonder when he had lost his Disney agenda and became the human equivalent of the Sanrio character.   
When he was still living in Kyoto, he was THE Disney fan among his friends and for his birthday the year before his friends had given him mainly Disney goods. 

All those memories made him realise how much had changed in just one year. Last year he was sitting in a café with his friends celebrating his birthday as an unknown back dancer who had one year left to make his dream of becoming a full-fledged artist come true. This year his dream had become reality, but he had to spend his birthday alone.   
Yet, he wasn’t feeling as lonely as in the morning anymore. The other members were not with him physically, but their surprises had proven how close they were in their hearts. 

Sadly, when it was time for Shion to drop his surprise in front of the door, Shosei wasn’t able to catch him; his revenge had to wait a little longer.   
At least this time, the gift was something a little more manly than the previous ones: Shion had gotten him some new piercings from Korea. Usually, Shion's fashion sense was questionable but at least this time, the other one had chosen well in Shosei's opinion. 

However, there was one person still missing: Ruki.   
If Shosei was honest, he had expected Ruki to be the first one to congratulate him, either via text or in person. Yet it was evening already and he hadn’t heard anything from him yet.   
A few days ago, when Ruki’s best friend Kosuke had celebrated his birthday, he had been the opposite. Even though they were separated by even more distance, Ruki had been super excited for the birthday and literally everyone in the dorm heard his cheering when Kosuke had announced his debut.   
Shosei had assumed that he would behave similar on his birthday since they were also close, so his mood turned downwards again. 

When there was another knock on his door, he didn’t jump to the door to catch the giver. Yet suddenly, he heard a voice complaining: “Shosei, hurry up. The cake is heavy and the sparklers are done soon.” It was Ruki’s voice.   
Curious about the cake and the mentioned sparklers, Shosei opened the door. Ruki was standing there with a cake which looked kind of strange. The fondant was falling off at some places and the yuzu pieces and cookies didn’t stick at all. Also, the sparkles were all in a weird angle.   
“Happy Birthday Shosei. Sorry for taking so long, but making a cake is so difficult.”   
“Wait... you did it yourself?”   
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”   
It was common knowledge that Ruki’s kitchen skills were pretty much non-existent, so it actually shocked him that he tried to make one for him. “You made that for me? Alone?”   
“I wanted to make it alone, but eventually first Sho and then Ren helped me save it.” 

They brought the cake to the table and he expected Ruki to leave, yet the older one sat down at the table, too. “Come let’s try the cake. Ren said the taste is good, so I have hope that I didn’t confused sugar and salt.”   
“But is it okay for you to stay here? You know...”   
“The rules say two people are okay and there is no way, I’m not trying the cake I made all day long.”   
“All day long?”   
“Yes, I planned to give it to you earlier, but it was so difficult to make, so it took me longer than I expected.”   
That’s why I didn’t hear anything from him all day, the blonde one thought. 

Once the sparklers finished, they removed them which made more of the decoration fall down to the embarrassment of Ruki. The first piece went to Shosei and for the sake of his friend he tried it besides mistrusting his baking skills.   
The cake tasted much better than expected (he expected the worst anyway) and while it was far from the most delicious cake he had eaten, it was acceptable especially for the first try.   
“I should have bought one... Sho and Ren couldn’t save it.”   
“No, it’s good.”   
The birthday boy’s reassurance made Ruki try the cake, too, but he wasn’t forgiving towards himself. “I should have bought one.”   
“I like it and that’s what matters, right?”   
“You are too sweet.”   
The older one’s smile in that moment made Shosei melt a little on the inside. Ruki’s genuine smile was beautiful, much more than his professional idol one. 

Eventually, Shosei ate also Ruki’s piece from the cake and stored the rest inside his refrigerator. In the meantime, the older one closed the curtains and turned on the fairy lights, before making himself comfortable on the bed. “What are you waiting for? You thought you only get the cake from me?”   
“Yes?” That his friend had tried to make his very first cake just for him was already a special gift for Shosei.   
“I thought you know me better by now.” Indeed, he was waving the newest DVD of the Disneyland parades. 

Together they watched the DVD while discussing which attractions they would visit. Of course, inside the DVD case was also a ticket for a future visit of the park.   
“Once this is over, I can’t wait to show you everything.”   
“I can’t wait, too. Thank you, Ruki.” They were laying close to each other already, yet it didn’t stop Shosei from pulling the other one into a hug.   
“I had planned to bring you there today, so that you can enjoy all those birthday extras. I’ll promise to do that next year.”   
“It’s okay. Thank you for being here today.”   
“You are too kind. You should be more upset.”   
“I was this morning.”, confessed the birthday boy. “But then the others started to surprise me and while everyone wasn’t here in person, I could feel their affection. Those are hard times, but what matters is that your friends don’t forget you anyway. Also, you are here now and that’s as good as a trip to Disneyland right now.” 

Hearing this made Ruki smile again. “Someone learnt to talk better.”, he said while gently moving a strand of hair behind Shosei’s ear; an action which made the younger one blush and look away. “We only need to work on your shyness now.”   
Ruki made him face him again before Shosei registered what was happening, he felt the older one’s soft lips on his own ones.   
He was sure that he had fallen asleep while watching the DVD because there was no way for this moment to be real, yet he returned the kiss anyway. At least in his dreams he wanted to seize the chance to be with the older one. 

Ultimately, the lack of oxygen made them part, yet Ruki was still in his arms. Did one feel the lack of oxygen in dreams, too? Was this real? Shosei’s head was spinning thanks to the kiss.   
“Happy Birthday, Shosei.” He heard the other one whispering into his ear.   
“This is not a dream, right?”   
“Of course not.” To prove his point, the men in his arms started to nip on his ear which made him feel a small amount of pain.   
Shosei’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he felt that. He had buried all his hope for his crush to be mutual due Ruki’s recent closeness with their leader. “No way...” was all he managed to say.   
“Want me kiss you again?”   
His heart screamed yet, yet his mouth acted on his own. “But you and Sho and... and...”   
“I might be named princess, but I’m not looking for the knight to rescue me. I actually prefer angels.” Again, Ruki’s lips were on his own ones and finally Shosei’s mind gave up in denying that it was real.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday Shosei!  
> Having your birthday in COVID-19 times must suck, so excuse me for breaking some social distancing rules in this AU.  
> Hopefully Shosei (& all other people whose birthday is during this hard time) have a happy birthday anyway.  
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
